Impresario Entertainment eyes inorganic growth through restaurant acquisitions

Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd is open to inorganic growth opportunities and could consider acquisitions in the full-service restaurant segment. The leading food services company is known for its restaurant brands, which include SOCIAL, Smoke House Deli, and Mocha, among others.

Riyaaz Amlani, Founder and MD, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality told businessline, “We will continue to grow our brands SOCIAL and Smoke House Deli. At the same time, we could also look at some acquisitions. We want to offer a bouquet of hospitality brands to consumers to grab a greater share of the wallet in cities where there is higher propensity to spend on eating out at higher frequencies.”

“We could look at acquiring brands that have 5-6 restaurants and are dominating in the existing geographies but could be facing challenges in becoming a national brand,” he added. 

Currently, the company operates a network of over 60 restaurants in more than 20 cities. Besides scaled brands, its portfolio also includes boutique restaurants such as Bandra Born, Slink & Bardot, BANNG and Prithvi Café.

Amlani added, “ We definitely see potential for inorganic growth opportunities. There are some brands that operate 3-4 outlets which have a strong resonance among consumers but do not have access to capital. We have the ability to acquire such brands and scale them up.”

IPO plans

The restaurant operator has said that it will explore options to go for an IPO but has not specified any timelines for now.

Talking about macroeconomic trends, Amlani said that the dine-in segment has been witnessing growth, but there have been challenges of oversupply in some of the leading cities.

While the food delivery segment has been growing fast, segments such as QSR segments have witnessed challenges amidst a slowdown in urban consumption.

“Premiumisation trends continue to strengthen as consumers want to eat and consumer better and are seeking quality experiences. We are also seeing consumers moving up from QSR to full service restaurants. As a group, we are hoping to tap into these trends as our brands range from casual dining to premium to luxury segments,” he added.

Compared to other markets, Indian consumers’ frequency of eating out is still much lower at about 6-7 times per month and hence presents long term growth potential, he pointed out.